Only a few hostas . . . Actually, they are on the south side of my house but - the north side of a large tree.

It is a wonderful location for them but I am going to have to get the mint that is crowding them under control!

I've allowed this sort of thing elsewhere, also. Not really the mint, altho' there is lemon balm squeezing some Canterbury bells on the north side of the greenhouse. No, the mountain bluet is taking over in places!

It has really suppressed the bleeding hearts, heuchera and lady ferns. The bluet doesn't even do that well in shade! It has real problems with mildew.

The raised square bed will be for yellow crookneck squash, one winter squash, and a few ears of corn. I found a few small plants at O'tooles yesterday, not realizing we were having gale force winds. :) I'll put them in the pots tomorrow after the winds are supposed to die down.

I read something on Pinterest (be careful! You can spend hours and hours there!) about growing celery from a bunch in your fridge...trying that out now.

You can get inexpensive hostas at Walmart. I've purchased a few on their clearance rack recently. You can also ask neighbors for a bit of theirs if you see any. They are very easy to dig/divide. I've taken pieces of them from the public area of our housing development. (I know! I'm bad!)

If I go to the Fall swap, I can bring some. I have about 6 varieties that are quite prolific.

This picture was taken several years ago, they are MUCH bigger now. I'll take some more pics tomorrow or Thursday.

Yea, I'm kind of cheap and ten bucks is a bit much for hostas from Walmart. I swear they had some really small ones that were only $3 a few weeks ago. I'd be willing to share some of mine if you are interested, I could dig you a few pieces. You probably wouldn't get much out of them this year though.

I only have the one bleeding heart but it's been in that spot for years. This year, it was practically whacked by that late April snow. I thought it wasn't going to bloom at all. But lo and behold it managed to pull itself out and it bloomed. I should get another one of those. I promise pictures. I didn't get outside at all today.

I've also been desperately trying to get lillies of the valley to grow over there on the dark side of the house (as I call it) also known as "the place where old pots go to die". Last year, someone on Craigslist wanted to get rid of their lillies of the valley. I went to their house and dug up two flats of them, planted them on that side of the house. This year, I think there is one. ONE! One of these days, I will prevail though.

I tried several times to get lilies of the valley to grow on the north side of the house with no luck. I finally tucked some in a the west side of the garage and they went to town and keep coming up in the lawn. I keep digging them out and they keep filling in the spots I idig them out. Maybe in some areas they grow on the north side well but not in my yard. Same with the orange poppies that I tried in several places. The kind that spread and now they cover the whole west side of the garage.

Oh those are wonderful , moma!
If you have time, I would love a few cuttings. I live near 92nd and Wadsworth, and I'd be happy to come pick them up. Or, if you prefer, you could bring them over, I'll fix a quick lunch, and you can meet Percy. :)

b2alicia: We should arrange for you to come over and I can dig you pieces of any of them. I don't live very far from you. I'll send you private message with my email address.

Here are a few more pics I got today.

Hosta and small Clematis

There are actually three Hostas in this pic. One is very small in the center. The one on the left is the one I took a dig from the public area of my housing development (couldn't help myself I love the two-tone color!)

The Rose of Sharon you see in that picture on the left is a volunteer that arrived after I had some others just like it removed. I might have more babies of those for the Fall swap.